On the way home, it looked like it was going to rain at any second. As I'm coming up a small hill, some car passes me and pulls into the bike lane and just sits there with the 4-ways on. Great, I said to myself, another idiot! When traffic finally eased up, I swing out of the bike lane and pass the lone driver. The car suddenly got out of the bike lane and rolled up beside me. The lady leaned out the window and yelled to me "Do you need a lift?" Since I'm a full-time commuter and ride in almost any weather, I say "no." As she takes off, I notice a pro bicycle bumper sticker on her car. Anyone else have any strange encounters similar to this?

Sounds like she has a thing for cyclists.
Was she hot?

Somewhat similar.. I had a flat about a month ago and was changing my tubes on the side of a long stretch of road with no parking. A guy walked up to me and asked if I needed a lift, which struck me as odd because I didn't see his car anywhere. I declined and asked how he got there, and he pointed way down the street at a parking lot that was probably a 3-5 minute walk. I saw it as being more kind than crazy, and I think that woman who offered you a ride is also kinder than most.

I got stranded in a shopping center today after running out of patches. 30-40 cars passed me by with nary a look. Finally, two guys from a roofing company asked if I needed a ride. My wife was on the way, so I declined, but thanked them for asking.

Talk about strange - I almost got hit by a drone riding home this afternoon. Some teenage kid was standing out in the street with some kind of control device in his hands. Next thing you know, this helicopterish device comes wizzing past me, almost hitting my head. That was a first.

I had a few drops of rain fall on me on my way home today. That's about as crazy as my commute gets.

That sounds so nice.

I rode to an LBS last in a series of stops around town and the guy at the counter asked me if I'd just been swimming. No, it's 110 and I had to make 4 stops and get here before you guys closed for the night.

Helicpterish, RC aircraft, toy helicopter, toy RC aircraft, quadcopter, tricopter, all proper terminology for what almost hit you. "Drone" is something the military fly which the media picked up as a buzzword because "drone" is far more ominous than "toy helicopter" to elicit emotional responses to their crappy journalism. Please don't call them "drones". I doubt it was the size of a car and doubt it had missiles or weaponry mounted on it for killing in a warzone.

This is what is called "droning on".

Chances are she was ... especially with a pro bicycle bumper sticker! You may have missed a chance!

Everyone at work knows I commute on my bicycle. It doesn't stop them from asking me if I need a lift any time the weather's foul. I just chalk it up to being considerate and thank them, but politely decline.

Weird one last night. A guy in a pickup decided he could beat me from a cross street. On second thought, he gave it some gas to get across the street. That was followed by an almighty bang as a piece of the used metal roofing he was hauling slid out of the back of the truck.

I continued riding home.

I would have knocked it to the ground.

Would have gotten hurt- those blades are sharp and moving fast!

Man killed in remote-control helicopter accident in Gravesend, Brooklyn | 7online.com

I was once stopped at a light in a shady part of town and was propositioned by a professional gal.

Doubtful it was something like that with some kid flying on the street, but even the quad and tricopters (what the media calls drones) will tear you up with their 4-5 inch blades.

You would have a gashed up arm then. Those blades are no joke, they're sharp and they're turning fast. One of the big concerns about them is that if they hit people, they can cause serious cuts. The larger ones have killed people.

I once had someone ask me when I got my license back after chaining my bike up at the grocery store. I suppose not many people ride bikes by choice in this area.

T

I had a kid yell at me "nice bike" but he was not wearing a helmet and his father lives on a street i frequent & acts like a 17 year old, riding quads on the sidewalk & street (both totally illegal here).

- Andy

Just reversed the OP. I was riding home from work, solo Cat 6ing it hard less than a minute away from setting a new record for my best time and I saw an old lady in a power wheelchair sitting on the side of the street. It's dark, 4:30 am, and she had no lights. Needless to say I blew right by her and zipped straight through the stop sign while screaming "Strava" between deep breaths. But before I could blow through the next stop sign I realized "You know, I do work with the elderly and disabled for a living. Maybe she needs help." So reluctantly I turned around, ruining my epic solo Cat 6 Strava segment that nobody else does time, and asked her. Turned out she'd been sitting there for hours with a dead battery and the person she's been traveling to meet earlier wasn't answering their phone. She was totally stranded. So I pushed her five blocks to my house and got the chair plugged in. Right now we're just waiting for her to get enough charge to make it home.

I had a crazy high speed head on collision with another cyclist yesterday Friday at about 6 AM in the morning on my way to work. It happened 2 kilometers from my home along one of the MUPS which I use frequently...This MUP has a really bad dangerous blind spot along one section, where it passes under a bridge with a river on one side, it narrows down where there isn't enough room for two cyclists to ride side by side...The path dips so it's down hill from both directions....I always slow down but the other guy didn't. It was one of those situations where it was just impossible to avoid a collision...No serious injuries but my 36 spoke front wheel cracked clean through. No other damage to my bike. His bike had a damaged wheel and his front fork bent. He left his bike on the path...I trotted home and carried my 30 pound bike home on my shoulder for 2 KM while also carrying a loaded backpack...At home I got my other bike and was back on my way to work. I have a few spare wheel sets at home, so no big deal. Today I am unlacing the damaged wheel so I can remove the hub and then I'll be building another wheel some time soon.

On Thursday we were just starting our ride home (wife and I work at the same company) and we knew a thunderstorm was approaching but thought we had time. We got about 1/4 mile into it and we saw a huge bolt of lightning in front of us, close, and then the thunder, so we turned around and decided to take the "short" ride home instead of the long one through the park. We got about 1/2 way and it started pouring. A little thunder and lightning too. We pressed on - no place to take shelter. We rode out of it and it was bone dry, then as we get about 1.5 miles from home, it rolled over us again, raining about twice as hard. My wife who was ahead of me couldn't even see me in my green shirt when she looked behind her. The sides of the roads were flooded. We made it. Though I did have puddles in my shoes.

Hawaii, that's a nice story. I'm glad it didn't end with the lady telling to f off as your reward for sacrificing your PR time.

Getting caught out in a thunderstorm can range from exhilarating to terrifying. I know in some parts of the country storms can spring up pretty suddenly, but I always try to watch the radar and hourly forecasts and charts before I set out, and each time I go in somewhere (store etc) so I know to wait there or hurry up and get riding. Weather.gov... very useful site!

- Andy

I once had a lady in an SUV stop to ask me if I needed a lift as I was fixing a flat tire on the sidewalk in Over-The-Rhine near downtown Cincinnati. I thought it was quite neighborly of her, but as I was nearly finished and had everything well in hand, I politely declined her offer. Those kinds of gestures seem to be sadly few and far between, but they're always appreciated when they happen.